Colombian orphans get a shot at adoption in Houston

Vacation has potential to be a true getawayColombian orphans get a sample of America and a shot at adoption

NAHEEDA SAYEEDUDDIN, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Published 5:30 am, Monday, July 18, 2011

Photo: Craig Hartley, Chronicle

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Orphans from Colombia help Jeremy and Vanessa Evermon and their children prepare lunch last week during a visit to the Evermons' home.

Orphans from Colombia help Jeremy and Vanessa Evermon and their children prepare lunch last week during a visit to the Evermons' home.

Photo: Craig Hartley, Chronicle

Colombian orphans get a shot at adoption in Houston

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Six-year-old Omar ran into the Evermon's living room clutching an R2-D2 toy, pushing every button he could find on the Star Wars droid.

The boy with sparkling blue eyes, who arrived from Colombia on Saturday, has much to explore in this new world.

"Omar is definitely very interested and curious," said Vanessa Evermon, whose family is hosting three of the 16 orphans making a summer trip to Houston with Orphan Hope International.

If all goes well, the Evermons, who already have three children, may expand their family.

To the Colombian orphans, this three-week journey is a chance to learn about American culture and to escape their everyday lives. In reality, the high-stakes vacation is designed to find permanent homes for older orphans from the poverty-stricken, war-torn Latin American country.

At the urging of the Colombian government, Orphan Hope International launched a pilot host program in December 2010, bringing eight children to Houston. Four of those are in the process of being adopted by local families, said Matt Bullen, a founding member of the mission.

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Because of that success, the Colombian government gave Orphan Hope International the go-ahead to expand the program this summer.

Bullen hopes to raise awareness about the high number of orphans in Colombia, a country plagued by drug trade and guerrilla insurgencies. "They have a lot of children whose parents are dead or in prison or they're addicts that don't care of the children," he said.

Ramifications raised

Several other groups around the country also offer host programs to allow families to meet children before deciding on an international adoption. Despite the rising popularity of this type of program, some worry about the ramifications on the orphans' already fragile emotional well beings.

Programs and participants must be sensitive to the children's feelings and careful not to raise their expectations of being adopted, one expert said.

"How you do it, how thoughtfully you do it, how carefully you do it, and how sensitively you do it, really matters big time," said Adam Pertman, author of Adoption Nation. "Because done well, this is a technique that can really work to a kid's benefit and to a family's benefit, but they haven't always been done well. And some children and some families have been hurt emotionally by it."

Fredy Rincon, a Colombian psychologist chaperoning the kids on the Houston trip, said Orphan Hope International has addressed these concerns. "The children were not told that there may be a chance they may get adopted," he said. "We prepare them by telling them they are on a vacation and before we leave, we prepare them for return to Colombia."

While they emphasize that this is a vacation, the "orphans understand the reason for the visit and pray for adoption," according to the group's website, which also touts that host programs have average adoption rates of 85 percent.

Activities scheduled

Eleven Houston-area families — who are not required to commit to adoption - are hosting the children, who will go horseback riding, visit the beach and attend an Astros game during their time in Houston. Prospective parents will also be invited to meet the children at a number of events.

The main goal should be providing the children with a positive experience during their stay, Pertman stressed.

"Hopefully the kid ends up with a really nice family or winds up with a really nice vacation," he said. "Anything other than those outcomes and it could be really problematic."